Time Skip
by Maid Malcolm
Summary: Due to a slight mishap, most of the Season 1 Team find themselves in the year 2016. Will they be able to get home in one piece, without learning enough to change the timestream forever? And how will the Season 2 Team deal with being confronted by their past selves?
1. Chapter 1

_February, 2011_

"Mission briefing in five."

It rarely took more than two or three minutes for the Team to assemble when they heard that phrase any more. Kaldur was the first to arrive, businesslike as ever. Robin sauntered in seconds behind, not looking up from his wrist computer. Kaldur fought the urge to roll his eyes when Artemis and Wally strode in hand in hand; for the past month they'd barely been apart for more than two minutes. It was beginning to get ridiculous. Conner and M'Gann had at least settled down, and seemed able to enter the room without grabbing each other or dissolving into giggles.

Kaldur's eyes glanced over the Team. Four minutes had passed. "Zatanna? Raquel?"

"Out," Conner shrugged. "Some party thing."

Kaldur's eyes narrowed. He should have known that. He needed to start thinking of those two as part of the Team and keep an eye on their availability as he did with the others. "I see."

Batman's face winked into existence on the viewscreen. He didn't waste time with pleasantries. "Several shipments to Antarctica have been traced to Intergang," he said. "We're not sure what's being moved, or why. But for two days, we've been detecting strange energy patterns from a point near the South Pole." A holomap formed, marking the relevant spot with a large red dot. "You will head there and identify the contents of the shipments. Identify the source of the energy if you can. Don't get caught. We do not want Intergang to know that we're onto them."

"Understood."

* * *

_April, 2016_

"We've been detecting strange energy patterns from here," Dick said, nodding to the holomap where a point near the South Pole was highlighted.

"Oh... kay..." Conner said. "And which of our enemies do you think is behind it?"

"Intergang. Maybe. Can't be sure."

"Why?"

"Conner, we've been to the South Pole exactly once. And we went to this exact spot. Remember?"

Conner's eyes widened. "You mean when – ?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, sorry, I thought this was going to be something dangerous. I mean, last time we barely needed to touch anything and the problem solved itself."

"Yeah... I guess so. Never mind."

Conner shrugged and moved on. Dick waited until he was alone, then pulled down his right glove to absent-mindedly rub his forearm. Of course Conner underestimated the danger. It wasn't his fault. But Dick was mostly stressed that he had no idea what they were facing.

They'd faced trouble at the South Pole before. He just wished he had enough information to beat it.

* * *

_February, 2011_

"How long until Rocket and Zatanna are free?" Kaldur asked.

Conner shrugged. "It's a party. A few hours?"

"Want me to call them in?" Artemis asked, reaching for her communicator.

"No." They'd worked without a full team before. No need to pull everyone away from their lives for every mission. "We will manage. Let us go."

Their roles were well-practised. Conner went to grab Wolf and the SuperCycle. Artemis did a quick arrow check, Wally checked his food supplies, M'Gann called the bioship into action. Within minutes, they were in the air.

Kaldur held some lingering doubts, but... the six of them would be enough. They'd worked with less, especially on a simple recon mission. Not a problem.

* * *

_April, 2016_

Picking the right team was the key. The rest they could figure out. Probably.

Dick called in his Alpha Squad privately. He told them not to mention the mission to the others. He didn't yet know how dangerous letting the mission be known could be. Conner, frowning in the corner, had been an obvious choice, being part of the original Team. M'Gann was too, although it was hard to convince her to do anything recently. She entered the room arm in arm with La'gaan. He'd been chosen to replace Kaldur's sorcery and water-breathing, in case that became important. Had M'Gann told him what had happened with Kaldur on the Reach ship? Probably not, judging by his worried glances at her. Dick hoped she'd rally soon. They were lucky they didn't need a speedster; Impulse was... tricky to control and he wasn't going to try to drag Wally back in. He had to respect his friend's decision, and anyway, it would be impossible to convince him to help when he was still so angry about Artemis.

Artemis... couldn't be replaced. They had no archers. Dick had briefly considered Jaime, but the Blue Beetle's still-vague connection with the Reach troubled him. This could be a Reach operation. He'd considered bringing in Barbara too, but with Batman in space, somebody needed to defend Gotham.

And Gotham would be undefended without her, because Tim was already in the corner opposite Conner's, leaning casually on the wall. Dick had no logical justification for that. He didn't need a replacement for himself. He was going. But it felt... right. There should be a Robin.

Dick cleared his throat. "Alright, guys." He brought up the map again and briefly explained the situation.

"So we're finishing an old mission?" La'gaan asked.

"Something like that. The location could be coincidence, it could be something new. But whatever Intergang were trying before, they might've tried again. So we might have a second chance to unravel this plot." Nightwing realised he was rubbing his forearm and stopped. "And if not, we need to stop it anyway. We move out in ten minutes."

"You're leading this one?" Conner asked, surprised.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm leading this one."

* * *

_February, 2011_

"Miss Martian?" Aqualad prompted as they neared their destination.

-Psychic link established,- she responded. -Bioship in camoflage mode.-

-Superboy, take the lead and scan for Apokaliptan and New Genesis technology,- Aqualad commanded. -Try not to be seen. We will follow in case you need backup.-

Miss Martian slowed the ship. Superboy scooted ahead, riding the SuperCycle close to the ground. From the ship, they could just make out Wolf leaning forward to sniff the air. Slowly and quietly, they neared the site.

-Anything, Superboy?-

-Not yet. But Intergang have shielded themselves from detection before. Ah, wait. Yeah, Apokaliptan weaponry, 100 feet ahead.-

-100 feet ahead?- Kid Flash asked. -There's nothing but snow 100 feet ahead.-

- In snow like this? It's probably in a bunker under the ice,- Artemis pointed out.

- That seems likely,- Aqualad agreed. -Miss Martian, you sense anything?-

-... No. If there are minds there, they're shielded.-

Aqualad hesitated. Their energy signature was a little more than 100 feet ahead. It was unlikely to be somebody messing with their minds, or they'd just attack. The Supercycle would've sensed a hologram. Artemis was probably right. But he really didn't want to go in blind. Were they facing automated weaponry, or people shielded from psychic attack? It made all the difference. -Kid, get down there and check it out. Miss Martian, Robin, go in thirty seconds behind and stay invisible. Artemis, take the helm, you and Superboy are air support, should something go wrong.-

Kid Flash had deployed before Aqualad even finished giving instructions. As he watched, Robin and Miss Martian each gave a nod and dropped.

-What about you?- Superboy asked.

-This close to the shore, the ice should be quite thin. I am going to test that theory.- Aqualad nodded to Artemis and she pulled the bioship back towards the water.

-Can you withstand the cold?- Flash asked. They could already see the trail of snow he threw into the air as he zipped around the area.

-We will find out.- It had never been a problem in Atlantis, which could get extremely cold by any surface-dweller's metric, but then, Atlantis wasn't sub-zero. -Artemis and I will may drop out of telepathic range for a few minutes.- As soon as the bioship was over the water once more, Aqualad dropped.

Like most Atlanteans, Aqualad had an excellent sense of direction. It was hard to go outside the cities underwater without one. He swam back towards the site, under the ice.

He was right; it wasn't too thick. The cold was bothersome, but he suspected he was handling it a lot better than a surface-dweller would. Although he did feel a little... sluggish. _No. Don't give in. You need to fight._ -Miss Martian? Somebody respond.- Nothing. He kept swimming.

The ice above him began to thicken as he neared the target site. He tried again. -Miss Martian? Somebody respond.-

-Aqualad!- M'Gann sounded distressed. It was faint, though; on the edge of her range.

-Miss Martian, what is happening?-

-Uh, battle. We got into the bunker. Kid Flash and Wolf are still outside, but – look out, Artemis!-

-I see him. Aqualad, this is looking bad, there are guys everywhere.-

-Miss Martian, can you sense my location?-

-Yes...-

-Then tell me how to get to you.-

-Almost directly North, about 500 feet... but you won't be able to reach the bunker from under...-

-Let me worry about that.- He sped up. -Now where?-

-30 feet West should put you just about under the tunnel.-

-Just about?- Just about would have to do. Aqualad drew his water-bearers, let himself sink a little, and not for the first time wished he's stuck around the Conservatory for a few extra months before becoming Aqualad. He concentrated, raised both arms, and started to spin.

Holding the watery shape of a giant drill bit wasn't the easiest thing in the world, but the ice crushed a lot more easily than he'd expected. Finally, climate change had done something useful. He wore away at the ice, electrocuting it when it seemed like that would help, and bore his way upwards, towards the tunnel. The tunnel itself was simply cut into the ice with no obvious support at all. Not very safe.

By the time he got into the tunnel, Miss Martian had already gilled up; Robin, Artemis and Superboy immediately reached for rebreathers. They were grouped together in the confined of the tunnel with enemies that Aqualad didn't recognise on both sides. Their enemies had guns but seemed reluctant to use them in the tunnel, which was probably all that had allowed the Team to last so long. Superboy had paused in his frontward assault to slip the rebreather on while Robin and Artemis guarded the back. Miss Martian seemed to have decided that the best strategy was to telepathically pick up enemies and simply throw them into other enemies; she floated above them doing just that.

Aqualad only got a momentary glimpse of the fight before their enemies got a sharp lesson in what the Team had already realised; the tunnel was below the water level.

Superboy grabed Robin in one arm and dug his other hand into the ice to hold against the sudden rush of water. Artemis already had an arrow anchored in the floor and laid flat. Miss Martian took Aqualad's lead, easily swimming against the current as various uniformed hostiles were swept past them. When the pressure stopped, Aqualad remarked, -Let us continue.-

-Shoudn't we go help Kid Flash?- Artemis asked. -We did just basically give him all our enemies to fight.-

-He has Wolf, and Sphere, and the Bioship. The sooner we complete the mission, the sooner we can collect him and get out of here.- He started to swim. The tunnel led upwards. -Is this the right way?-

-Yeah,- Robin said, -the architecture is odd in here.- The tunnel kept rising out of the water. Aqualad hesitated. If it was his base and it was suddenly flooded, he'd post any remaining soldiers right outside the water to take out anyone who walked out of it. -I'll go first. Superboy, behind me.- He walked out of the water, refilling his lungs with air. No attack. Water-bearers at the ready, he glanced down the long, straight hall. Deserted. Perhaps they had washed the entire staff out of the tunnel.

The tunnel ended in a steel door. Superboy removed it easily. It led to a small, steel-walled room, inconsistently lit by soft lights scattered at apparent random on the surface of a steel box in the centre. The box was about the size of an elevator, and humming. The lights pulsed.

Cautiously, Robin walked over and pressed one hand against the side. "It's warm."

"What is it?" Aqualad asked.

"Don't know. I'll try to find an access panel or something, see if I can get to the electronics..."

The lights pulsed faster. Humming grew louder.

"Everyone out!" Aqualad shouted unnecessarily as teammates ran for the door or hit the floor depending on where they were in the room. Aqualad drew as much moisture as he could from the ice walls outside and tried to hide them behind a shield of water.

There was the shriek of tearing metal, and the box exploded.

* * *

_April, 2016_

The site wasn't hard to find. Flying over the ice brought back the memories of how they'd found it the first time. The coastline had changed since then, the ice melting and breaking to bring the bunker closer to the water, but the magic of GPS made that unimportant.

"Miss Martian?" Nightwing prompted.

-Link established.-

-Superboy?-

-Not picking up signals of any kind,- he reported from the SuperCycle.

-Not even Apokaliptan technology?-

-No, nothing.-

Nightwing hesitated. Not finding anything didn't mean they were safe. They'd been shielded from Miss Martian's powers last time; if they were expecting company...

That meant they couldn't use the same strategies as last time, either. Well, not exactly the same strategies. But there was no knocking a winning formula. -Lagoon Boy, Superboy, find the entrance. Robin and I will go stealth and back you up. Miss Martian, you're air support.- The Team deployed.

The cold was biting, even through his full-body, cold-resistant costume. Behind him, Robin squinted in irritation and pulled his thermal cape further over his shoulders. Nightwing couldn't imagine how Lagoon Boy felt. Atlantean cold resistance was one thing, barefoot in snow was another. He should've left him to pilot the ship and taken Miss Martian. Of course, then he'd have to handle her... listlessness... instead, but that was better than teammates freezing to death.

Lagoon Boy didn't complaint though; after a brief (if testy) telepathic discussion about coordinates, he raced off after Superboy.

"You sure about putting them in the field together?" Robin asked quietly when they were alone. "They're not... exactly..."

"Doesn't matter. They both know how to do their jobs. You okay in these conditions?"

"I've been in worse."

"Then let's go. Be careful."

The boys shared a nod, and disappeared into the snow to tail Superboy and Lagoon Boy, who were determinedly heading for the tunnel entrance without speaking, Superboy on the Cycle, Lagoon Boy running through the snow.

No attacks. No hostile activity.

Superboy jumped down and kicked snow off the large metal door leading down into the tunnels. Before he had a chance to grab it, Lagoon Boy inflated and, with a roar, dug his fingers into the ice around the metal and ripped it open. Superboy glared at him.

No attack. No hostiles.

-Miss Martian, follow us in,- Nightwing instructed as he and Robin crawled out of the snow to fall into step behind Superboy and Lagoon Boy. The corridor was dark and icy, just as he remembered. The walls looked more fragile. That was a worry. Robin took the lead, glowstick in hand; Nightwing guarded their backs. About 50 feet in they were joined by Miss Martian in camoflage mode.

Robin stopped suddenly. The tunnel ahead was flooded.

-Huh,- Superboy said. -I guess these tunnels would be impossible to drain.-

-This isn't a good sign,- Nightwing pointed out. -We flooded this tunnel last time we were here. This means it's deserted. So why are we getting energy signatures?-

-Maybe they built another entrance?- Lagoon Boy said.

-Yeah. Maybe. Lagoon Boy, Miss Martian, take front.- Miss Martian grew gills as the two entered the water. The others grabbed rebreathers from their belts (Nightwing handing a spare to Superboy) and followed.

The room was there, same as before, door still torn from its hinges and resting where it had been flung against the wall. The inside of the room was scarred with burn marks and metal scraps where something large had exploded. It was otherwise empty.

"Well," Nightwing said, "this is..."

Suddenly, the room was filled with a mechanical hum and pulsing light.

"Everyone in the corridor, now!"

The squad retreated. Lagoon Boy darted between the rest of the group and the room, expanding his body to fill the corridor and shielding them with his own back. There was a... force. An explosion without heat or light, just a roaring hum. Then silence. Some groans.

A chillingly familiar voice.

"Is everyone okay?" Aqualad asked.

"M'Gann's unconscious, but she's breathing." Superboy. Concerned. But Superboy, crouched in the tunnel next to Nightwing, hadn't opened his mouth.

Everything snapped into place. _Ugh, I'm an idiot! It's so obvious!_

M'Gann spoke up. Her mental voice was full of hope and joy... and more than a little confusion. -Hey, I... I sense...-

-No!- Nightwing snapped. -Nobody say or do anything!-

* * *

"Is everyone okay?" Aqualad asked. The Team was crouched together against the wall right next to the door. The water that had formed their shield had collapsed and pooled around them when he lost grip on his water-bearers. He crawled over to pick them up.

"M'Gann's unconscious, but she's breathing."

That explained why the psychic link was down. "Can everybody else walk?" A general chorus of assent. Aqualad looked around. Nothing but shrapnel. They had not exactly determined the nature of what they had faced, but thy had eliminated it. There was not much else they could do. "Then we are done here. Time to go." They clambered to their feet, Superboy picked up Miss Martian, and they strode into the corridor.

And froze.

Four extremely familiar faces, and one he couldn't immediately identify but hidden behind a fairly familiar mask, stared back at Aqualad. Not a single one of them made any sense.

"Oo...kay, should we be running or fighting or what?" Artemis hissed in his ear.

"Uh..."

* * *

-Just what the hell is going on?!- Superboy's voice shouted in Nightwing's mind.

-Uh...-


	2. Chapter 2

"YOU!" La'gaan screamed, throwing himself towards the group in the doorway. Specifically, at Kaldur'ahm.

-Somebody stop him!- Nightwing demanded urgently. But the other group was already reacting. Kaldur's Conner jumped back into the room, shielding the unconscious Martian with his own body; Artemis stepped forward and La'gaan fell to his knees as two explosive arrows hit his chest in quick succession; Kaldur threw a stream of water around La'gaan at the rest of Nightwing's group; and the tunnel was suddenly full of smoke. And laughter. Creepy, childish laughter.

_Did I ever sound like that?_ Nightwing wondered as he turned on infra-red and prepared for battle. Past!Robin had made a mistake; he was up against two people trained at fighting in poor visibility. Nightwing and Tim automatically fell into step with each other.

Too late. They'd gone.

Not an attack, a retreat. Nightwing couldn't help but feel a little proud of his past self. He waited for Robin to spray an aerosol coagulant and the tunnel around them to clear, then turned to his Team.

-Everyone ok?-

A general chorus of assent.

-Nightwing. What the hell just happened?- Conner asked.

-That was him! The traitor! We have to go after him!- La'gaan.

-In case you didn't notice, you going after him is _exactly what let him get away_,- Conner snapped.

-Stop it, both of you. That wasn't him. It was Aqualad.- Nightwing rubbed his temples. Ugh, he should've guessed. He was just making the situation worse.

-That's what I said,- La'gaan said.

-No, I mean that's from when he was Aqualad. They were us. From the past. And we need to find them and get them home, before they learn or do something that will crash the whole timestream.-

* * *

The Team dropped into the water and followed Aqualad under the ice. After about 50 feet, he hesitated, uncertain. With the psychic link down (Superboy held a rebreather against Miss Martian's mouth,which seemed to work), none could ask him exactly what was wrong. What was wrong was that the landscape had changed. The ice above them looked very different to the ice he'd seen on the way in. He was pretty sure he was heading in the right direction... but...

Nothing for it. There was nowhere else to go. He kept swimming.

Artemis and Robin were the first to lag, being ordinary humans who weren't really dressed for swimming in icy water. Aqualad picked up Artemis and Superboy threw Robin over his spare shoulder. Aqualad hoped Superboy could withstand the cold – he couldn't drag four unconscious, slowly dying temamates.

Eventually, they reached a coast. It wasn't the same as the one they'd passed over on the way in, but they dragged themselves, shivering, onto the ice. Robin laid out his cloak and they built a small, careful fire of flares and igniting arrows.

"Is everyone alright?" Aqualad asked.

"M'Gann's still out," Superboy said.

"The cold will not harm her. When she wakes up I am sure that she will be fine."

"Communicators are down," Artemis reported. "I can't reach Kid Flash."

"Robin, where are we?"

"Huh... almost exactly where we came in, according to GPS, but that water should be ice. And I don't see Kid Flash or the bioship anywhere."

"More importantly," Conner said, "Who were they? That wasn't Intergang. They had a superclone! And it wasn't Match!"

"Yeah, I noticed that," Robin said. "So what, this is another Cadmus thing?"

"Can it not be both?" Kaldur looked to Superboy. "The one who attacked us. Did you not recognise him?"

"Should I have?"

"His name is La'gaan. He helped us fight Ocean Master, remember? He is Atlantean. A student at the conservatory. But he has... grown a lot. The La'gaan I know, the real La'gaan, is a child."

"Force-grown," Superboy agreed, looking down at his own hands.

"So Cadmus has Atlantean clones now?" Artemis asked. "Where did they get Atlantean DNA? And why?"

"That is what troubles me."

"Ocean Master!" Superboy exclaimed suddenly. "Look, who was there? A superclone, could've been cloned from me... a La'gaan clone... and maybe I'm crazy but didn't that green girl look just like M'Gann? I don't know about the humans but we were all fighting Ocean Master."

"Yeah but M'Gann doesn't actually look like M'Gann," Artemis pointed out.

"Who else is going to take that shape?" Conner asked.

"Doesn't explain why one of them was dressed like me though," Robin said, "or why they don't have an Aqualad."

"Or why they exist in the first place!" added Artemis.

"I doubt that we will find our answers out here," Kaldur said. "But here we are likely to freeze to death. We must find Kid Flash and retreat."

"Ugh..."

"M'Gann!" Superboy gently lifted Miss Martian up as she moaned and rubbed her head. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. Where are we?"

"Still Antarctica. And we... might have a problem."

* * *

"Okay, so how exactly do we find them?" Superboy asked.

"That's easy." Nightwing brought up a holographic map above his wrist computer. "I'll hack Robin's GPS."

"Are you sure you – "

"After all these years, you doubt my ability to hack my_ own_ GPS? Really?"

"Okay, but how do we get to them without them going shark on us?" Lagoon Boy asked. "I don't know about you minnows, but I don't think getting into a fistfight is the best use of our time."

"Yeah, it'd be so much easier if they didn't think we were hostile," Superboy noted with a sidelong glare at La'gaan.

"Listen, Chum – "

"I can handle that side of things," Nightwing interrupted. "I can explain and convince them to cooperate. But we need a way to get Superboy – their Superboy – out of the way first."

"Uh, why?" Robin asked.

"Super-hearing. The less they know about this time, the better. Now, I'm pretty sure I can convince Miss Martian to stay out of my head..." he glanced at their own Miss Martian, who still looked troubled and distant... "but I'd prefer to just have Superboy out of the way."

"I... might... be able to handle that, if I can borrow some tech," Superboy said hesitantly.

"Might?"

"I'm pretty sure. I mean, if I saw what he saw today... yeah, I can keep him out of the way. But I should do it alone."

"I have to go in alone too. The rest of you should wait for us on the bioship. Our friends will probably need some warmth and medical care before this is over." _Not to mention us._ "Miss Martian, a word?"

She nodded and followed him off into the snow. They were still within Superboy's hearing distance, but Nightwing was pretty sure he would respect their privacy and not eavesdrop. Pretty sure.

"Do you... do you understand what I'm going to have to ask you to do?"

Her eyes darkened. "I don't play with people's minds any more, Nightwing."

"It's necessary. None of us remembers any of this happening the first time. Neither can they. They have to make the same decisions, you understand? Do the same things. They're us, M'Gann, and we can't change them. It's the right thing to do."

"I thought I was doing the right thing on the Reach ship, too." She shook her head. "I don't mess with minds any more. It's too dangerous."

"There's no other way."

"Is there a way to get them home?"

"We'll find one."

"Then we'll find a way to deal with their new knowledge, too."

Nightwing gave up and trooped back to the others. "Okay, we ready? Superboy gets Superboy out of the way, I go in, when we're clear I'll call you. Oh, and remember: they can't know anything about this time, so keep any emotional reactions to yourself."

"Even Kaldur'ahm?"

"Especially Kaldur'ahm."

* * *

"Call the bioship," Aqualad ordered.

"I've been trying. She's out of range."

"Then we must go to her. And Kid Flash."

Superboy stiffened.

"Superboy?" Miss Martian asked.

"I... think I hear something. I'll go check it out. I'll catch up with you guys."

"We shouldn't split up out here," Robin said.

"I'll be fine. You guys go on ahead." He leapt away into the snow.

"I hate it when he does that," Robin muttered.

"Indeed," Aqualad said. "I have no idea where he could have learned it from." He got to his feet, trying to ignore the biting cold. He was starting to see why surface-dwellers always insisted on shoes.

"My bow's not gonna work great under these conditions," Artemis announced, fiddling with the string. "I can shoot, but not far or accurately."

"You've used your bow wet before," Robin said.

"Yeah, but now there's ice in... well, everything."

-I'll find Wally,- Miss Martian said in their heads, taking flight. She paused a moment, then came back down. -Uh. We have company.- She pointed. Coming slowly towards them across the snow was a dark-clad, humanoid figure. Aqualad squinted. It was one of the crew who attacked them, the one who was neither familiar nor dressed in a variation of Robin's costume. The Team didn't need to be told what to do; Robin disappeared, Miss Martian camouflaged and moved to flank the intruder from the left, and Artemis docked an arrow and went right. Aqualad drew his water-bearers, but otherwise didn't move.

The intruder raised both empty hands and kept moving, slowly, forward.

"That's far enough," Aqualad called when he was close enough to comfortably shout to. He stopped walking. "Who are you? What do you want?"

The figure didn't answer. Instead he looked to an apparently random patch of snow and gave a tiny jerk of his head. Robin rose out of it and, looking entranced, walked towards him.

-Robin, keep back!- Aqualad commanded.

-It's alright. I think.-

Aqualad gripped his water-bearers tighter and didn't bother arguing. Was it defy-orders-day, and had everyone forgotten to tell him? Robin at least had enough sense to approach from an angle that didn't block anybody else's shot.

Robin paused just out of arms' reach and the figure lowered his arms to cross them behind his back instead. They should be in Miss Martian's view; he wouldn't be able to take them by surprise. Robin walked right up to him; the figure bent down and whispered something into his ear. The two had a very brief, very quiet conversation. Robin looked insistent about something. The stranger shrugged. Robin stepped neatly behind him and cuffed his hands behind his back. He didn't resist.

-Robin?- Aqualad asked.

-He won't attack.-

-Who is it? What did he want?-

-He's... probably better at explaining than I am.-

* * *

Nightwing waited in silence while the Team had their telepathic discussion and tried not to stare at his younger self. He could see that Robin was attempting the exact same thing. No matter how in control of the situation he felt, nothing could really account for the sheer creep factor of seeing yourself from the outside, five years younger. _Was my voice ever that high? Was I ever naïve enough to keep standing this close to a potential enemy? Doesn't he know I could take him out with my legs from here? He even knows how to do that! Why isn't he considering that I do too?_

He felt naked without his utility belt. Robin... Tim... had straight-up called him crazy when Nightwing had placed it in his hands and told him to look after it. But it'd only be confiscated anyway, and if he couldn't have it he'd prefer it didn't go to anyone who might accidentally take it back in time.

The Team was approaching, surrounding him. All still combat-ready. Good.

"Who are you?" Kaldur asked again. He was so young! His eyes weren't hard with pain. This was Kaldur before Tula, before the impossible decisions, before he'd sent him off on that horrible mission. Still a warrior, always a warrior, and struggling under the burden of leadership, but he hadn't yet suffered the worst of what the hero life would do to him. What Nightwing, Nightwing's decisions, would do to him. To all of them. Artemis, lurking behind; M'Gann, who he couldn't see but he knew where she would be... tiny Robin...

"I'm called Nightwing," he said, "but you know me as Robin."

Kaldur frowned.

"He's me from the future," Robin explained.

"More accurately, you're from the past. You've travelled forward in time, Kaldur. Five years forward."

"That," Kaldur said, "is the most ridiculous lie I have heard in quite some time."

"Robin,"Nightwing said, "according to your maps, should all that water be there?" He nodded behind them, towards the ocean.

"No... no, that should all be ice."

"That's five years' worth of melting."

"I'm convinced that he's me," Robin said.

"Well, I'm not," M'Gann said, decamouflaging and floating down in front of him. "If I can just read his mind..."

"No!" Nightwing pulled away from her, even though he knew that wouldn't affect her powers at all. "You can't know anything about your own futures. It'll affect the decisions you make, and it could crash the timestream."

Kaldur and M'Gann exchanged a glance.

"Was that La'gaan with you?" Kaldur asked.

"We don't have a quota on Atlanteans. The Team has... changed a little since your time."

There was a brief period of stillness, as everybody around Nightwing was distracted by their telepathic conversation. He hoped that Superboy was having more luck.

* * *

Superboy sighed and switched off the device he and Robin had hastily constructed once Nightwing had left. It had been simple enough to build and even simpler to use, but he didn't think his past self was going to take it very well. Only one other person had ever contacted him that way – Lex Luthor. He could, however, trust his past self to charge off alone, so mission accomplished.

He'd kept the message short and sweet. "We need to talk alone, brother," and his coordinates.

It should work.

He heard footsteps. A pause. The timing should be easy to predict... Superboy stepped neatly to one side and stuck out an arm to flip the identical Superboy who'd leapt at him from behind. Past!Superboy grabbed his arm and attempted to throw him, but he'd had a lot more training than his past self. He twisted easily out of his grip.

"There is no need for us to fight," he said calmly, as his past self roared and swung a fist. He didn't even bother to dodge, merely raising a palm to absorb the blow. "I brought you out here to talk."

"You attacked us!"

"Yeah, that was poorly thought out. La'g... we... were taken by surprise." The two had found themselves hand-in-hand, grappling. But that was okay. They were equally strong.

"You're a Cadmus clone."

"So are you. Can we please stop fighting? Even if we manage to hurt each other it's not going to help anyone."

Slowly, warily, his past self let up. "Do you have a name?"

"That's... complicated. I'm you, actually."

"No, you're a _clone_ of me, that doesn't make us the same – "

"I'm not a clone of you. I _am_ you. Your team has travelled five years into the future. I'm you, in five years."

"Prove it."

"You've been sabotaging your own tests in history class because you feel awkward about how you learned all the information that makes you so good at it. You're worried about Dubbilex and still don't know if you can trust him, but don't think you're up to being the ambassador he wants you to be even though you feel indebted to him. The idea of Lex Luthor's genes inside you creeps you out."

"Anybody could've guessed that stuff. Besides, if Luthor used Red Sun to shut me down and then steal my memories for – "

"After Red Sun, then. What date is it for you?"

"February,,, 20th, I think?"

"New Years' Day, or night really, M'Gann baked a small cake just for you. Nobody else saw it; only the two of you know that it was strawberry with mint frosting. It was a terrible combination of flavours but you ate it anyway."

He was silent for a second. "Okay... let's say I believe you. What now?"

"Now, we try to get you and your Team home."

* * *

"Our communicators don't work," Artemis said again.

"The frequencies have been changed several times over the past five years," Nightwing replied. "But I can call in Miss Martian with the Bioship and get us off this ice."

"Do it," Aqualad said.

"Hey," Artemis muttered to Robin while Nightwing slipped easily out of his handcuffs and made the call, "what did you guys talk about?"

"Nothing. We just traded codes and enacted the previously agreed protocol."

"Codes?"

"Yeah, my verification codes for if I ever encounter myself time travelled, or a Cadmus or Cadmus-like copy, or my consciousness transferred into a machine." He counted off the possibilities on his fingers. "They're supposed to hasten the whole identity-proving part of the process, give a quick indication of what's going on, and enact my standard cooperative protocol and avoid the whole fighting-myself thing."

"You consider that likely enough to have a plan for it?" Kaldur asked, bewildered.

"If I only planned for things that were likely I'd be dead. Besides..." he gestured Nightwing.

"What about that other kid who was wearing your costume?" Artemis asked.

"What about him?"

"Aren't you curious? Aren't you going to ask who he is?"

"Nope. Time travel protocol. Future information is on a need-to-know basis."

"These protocols of yours sound pretty risky."

"They made a lot more sense before I was dealing with mind readers on a regular basis. I haven't found a way to compensate for that yet."

"Our ride's here." Nightwing handed Robin's handcuffs back and pointed up, to where the bioship was decamouflaging. Miss Martian had been following the bioship's progress with her gaze and smiled like somebody being reunited with a friend. Then frowned, very slightly.

"Uh, Miss Martian, with your telepathy are you and the other MM – "

"We can refrain from prying each others' thoughts, if that is your question," she replied, sounding distracted. "I can't avoid feeling her through the bioship, but..."

"Good enough for me. Let's go." Cables dropped from the bioship, and the Team clipped them on. Miss Martian simply levitated herself up to the ship.

The inside of the ship was crowded, but nobody cared. It was _warm_. Apart from Miss Martian, they were all on the limits of what their thermal gear could do. Thermal clothing isn't quite as effective when soaked through, and Nightwing was really the only one with enough of his flesh covered to make it useful long-term.

Miss Martian, the older Miss Martian, sat at the controls, and didn't even look at the new arrivals. She acknowledged their presence only with a nod. The two Superboys sat to one side, looking at relative peace with each other at least. Tim handed Nightwing his utility belt without a word and tried to look like he wasn't sneaking curious glances at Nightwing's younger self, who was carefully not looking at him. La'gaan sat next to the older Miss Martian but, perhaps to avoid tipping off the younger Superboy, didn't look at or touch her.

"La'gaan." Aqualad offered him a smile.

"Kaldur." La'gaan nodded stiffly. Aqualad offered him a hand and, with a glance at Nightwing's stern face, he reluctantly shook it.

"You've grown," Aqualad said.

"Uh, we should probably focus on the problem at hand," Nightwing interrupted. A brawl inside an overcrowded bioship over Antarctica would just be a terrible idea. "I think we should start by examining the original site. What's left of it."

"Should we not contact the League?" Aqualad asked. "Or check the databanks at Mount Justice? From your demeanor I assume you were as unprepared for this as we."

"We should gather as much data as possible first," Nightwing said quickly. "In case there are any time-sensitive signals."

Aqualad nodded and fell silent, hiding a smile. Their predicament was certainly concerning, but he couldn't help but be pleased to see what the Team had become. Robin – Nightwing – seemed to be proving every bit as strong a leader as he expected. Training his own little Robin too, it seemed. And La'gaan... he'd always wanted to go to the surface. It was good to see him achieve his dream.

The absences didn't bother him. Himself, Artemis, Kid Flash, Zatanna, Rocket... the obvious reason for that was that they'd moved onto the Justice League. They were adults in this time. That had always been the plan. M'Gann was still an adolescent, Conner was technically... what, five? Six?... and it made sense for Nightwing to stick around and lead the Team.

"We're here," Miss Martian – future Miss Martian – announced.

"Good," past!M'Gann replied, leaning past her older counterpart and slamming her hands against the bioship. Holes opened in the floor; Nightwing's team found themselves dropped out of the ship. They tried to grab for handholds, but the bioship simply slipped out of their fingers. Miss Martian mentally grabbed them mid-fall and lowered them to the ground.

"What just happened?!" Superboy asked as they watched the bioship speed away.

-I can pursue,- Miss Martian said.

-Not alone,- Nightwing said.

"What happened?" Superboy repeated.

Nightwing frowned. "I'm not sure." This wasn't right. This wasn't the protocol at all.

* * *

"What happened?" Robin demanded. "This isn't the protocol!"

"I'm sorry, I couldn't warn you without tipping her off," Miss Martian replied, settling her mind into the bioship.

"Then tell us now," Aqualad said. "And where are we heading?"

"Mount Justice. We need answers."


	3. Chapter 3

M'Gann liked Earth. But it hadn't exactly been easy to fit in.

People didn't communicate on Earth. Not properly. It had been a bit of a rude shock to learn that touching other peoples' minds, especially without their permission, was a serious social violation. (Unless they were the bad guys.) People instead traded information through words and complicated visual cues. She'd known that in advance, of course – she'd made sure she was fluent in English before ever coming to the planet, when it became clear that she couldn't just rely on mental translation – but it was still startling to see how... mentally blind... humans were. It was hard, to keep her mind isolated. It was lonely. Even through their psychic link, humans communicated in abstractions of words. It was just a tiny connection to force information through without speaking. It didn't allow real communication.

It was easier for her, she suspected, than it must have been for her uncle J'onn. On Mars, her mind was a beacon of what she was, an invitation and a means for others to hurt her. She was used to closing up, and on Earth, that was encouraged. Besides, she could still talk to her uncle properly. On occasion, she shared minds with Conner. And she had the bioship, which may not have had the intelligence of her teammates but at least allowed her to open her mind to _something _other than her own outfit.

So while she'd carefully avoided connecting with the mind of her future self, she was happy to reconnect with the bioship when it had come into range. And pleased when it responded with joy, although that was confusing. She could feel her other self, just a little, through the bioship; she seemed to have quite sensibly cut connection down to a minimum, probably to avoid the two M'Gann's minds touching any more than they could help. It wasn't until they were aboard that she realised what the problem was.

The bioship _missed_ her.

It was her bioship, certainly, but the Martian controlling it couldn't be her. She hadn't temporarily distanced herself from the bioship for a few minutes, they just hadn't been connecting. Even a cursory brush with the other's mind told her that the other Martian was much more powerful, powerful enough that having a real mental glance would definitely be noticed, so there was no safe way to gain more information; she simply ejected the imposter's team and fled.

She explained this to the Team, as best she could in English to non-telepaths, as they sped away from Antarctica.

"So that was a totally different Martian?" Artemis asked. "How would they get a Martian?"

"No," M'Gann clarified, "she looked... felt... very familiar, at least what I could get from her. She was pretty similar to me. I'd say that a Cadmus clone is pretty likely. You know, if she had all my memories."

"People change," Kaldur pointed out. "And we do not know what happens in the next five years."

"Nothing can happen in the next five years that would stop me from talking to my own bioship," M'Gann insisted. "And I think it's pretty suspicious that this Nightwing didn't want me verifying his identity. I can see why poking through someone's thoughts and memories across time can be dangerous, but I wouldn't need much."

"Yes, that is a good point," Kaldur conceded. "I cannot imagine Robin showing that sort of reluctance." He glanced at Robin for verification, who reluctantly nodded.

"I don't really think it matters whether they're clones or not," Robin said. "Our protocol's basically the same. Although I'm not sure why he'd lie about it."

"If they're Cadmus clones, he may not have a choice," Conner pointed out. "Which would also help explain why he tried to keep M'Gann out of his head – she can remove Cadmus programming. But my guy was... convincing."

"They already have your DNA," Robin pointed out.

"DNA isn't memories," Superboy responded. He glanced at M'Gann. -He knew about the cake you made me on New Years'-

-They have a telepath, Conner.-

-... I guess, but...-

"Anyway," M'Gann said out loud, "when we get to Mount Justice, we can just check the date and verify that we are in the right time before continuing the investigation." She wished she had've had a look in Nightwing's mind. But by the time she'd learned he was a bad guy, there wasn't time. She had to get them out of there, especially away from the telepath, the... closed-off, shadowy telepath. M'Gann couldn't imagine being that shut up. Well, that wasn't true; she'd tried it, once, after her telepathic powers had messed up a training exercise and traumatised and nearly killed her friends. She had decided to simply not be a telepath any more. It had proven impossible. With the pain of near-total isolation and the knowledge that refusing to use her powers didn't change the danger her subconscious posed, she instead accepted training from her uncle so that she could consciously choose how to use her powers and make sure they were used only for good. She couldn't just avoid using her most powerful sense altogether. No Martian could.

"To Mount Justice, then," Kaldur agreed.

* * *

M'Gann silently cursed herself for not reacting in time as she gently lowered her temmates onto the ice. In theory, keeping control of the bioship should have been an easy task – she was stronger, better trained and more experienced than her past self. But she'd been taken by surprise, and she'd only maintained the barest link with the bioship anyway, barely stronger than a psychic link. It seemed that had been a mistake.

-I can pursue,- she said.

-Not alone,- Nightwing responded.

"What happened?" Conner asked as M'Gann lowered herself to the ground.

"Not sure." Nightwing was fiddling with the computer on his wrist. "They're headed North."

"We're in Antarctica," La'gaan pointed out. "Everything is North."

"They'll go to Mount Justice," Conner said. "It's where we'd go. I mean, where we... you know what I mean."

"Then we have no time to lose. You four, take the SuperCycle and follow. I'll stay here and try to figure out this time portal."

"I'm staying with you," M'Gann said instantly.

"Negative. You need to control the bioship and protect the others from psychic attack."

"They're in less danger than you are. I'm the only one who isn't in danger from this cold. If you pass out, you need somebody who can withstand the cold to get you out of here."

Nightwing looked like he wanted to argue, but decided against it. "Fine. The rest of you get going." He hadn't looked up from his computer.

"What... what are you doing?" Robin asked.

"Trying to patch a cell signal through our communicators and get some reception down here so I can call Wally. Go! Superboy, you're in charge."

Conner, La'gaan and Tim trooped off to meet the SuperCycle. They were barely out of sight when Wally's voice came through Nightwing's communicator. "Hello?"

"It's Nightwing."

"Is she – ?!"

"Fine, so far as I know, this isn't about that. I need you help."

"No."

"It's kind of an emergency."

"When exactly did you forget what the word 'no' meant? We're not reserve members of your little Team, we're _out_. Or supposed to be. Call Impulse."

"I don't think getting even more time travellers involved is really going to help."

"... more time travellers?"

"Versions of most of the Team from five years ago have appeared in our time and are en route to Mount Justice from Antarctica as we speak. You're not there and I am, so we need you to get out there and intercept them before they learn way too much."

"... I swear you get into these situations on purpose. On my way."

Nightwing cut the communication and turned to Miss Martian. "Okay, let's go take some readings."

* * *

Conner gave Wolf a quick pat on the head before the three heroes climbed into the SuperCycle. "Good boy. Look after Nightwing for us." He would've wanted Wolf along, but they only had so much room and couldn't afford to weigh Sphere down.

The journey was awkward, to say the least.

"So how, exactly, are we going to take the bioship down without hurting her?" La'gaan asked after several minutes of silence.

"I'm working on that," Conner replied. "I think Sphere should be able to do it, shouldn't you, girl?" Sphere chirped in reply. "And I don't thing the bioship will try to hurt any of us, so..."

"The bioship's not really calling the shots though, is it?" Robin interjected.

"M'Gann won't want to hurt us, either," Conner snapped back.

"Why did she run like that?" La'gaan asked. "That's what I can't figure out."

"You tell me, she's your girlfriend," Conner responded.

"No, my girl is still in Antarctica. The girl we're chasing, I've met once. And she's dating you."

"No, she's dating _him_. The younger me." Conner sighed. "This is really confusing."

"Tell me about it."

* * *

Wally had had a lot to be unhappy about recently.

He'd taken time off college after the "death" of his girlfriend. It had been expected. His friends had been overwhelmingly supportive, but somehow, that had made it even harder. He didn't like lying to the friends they'd made since leaving the life behind, and he definitely didn't like lying to Artemis' mother. The whole thing was going to collapse in on them, he just knew it.

But even if he didn't like Dick and his stupid plan, he trusted Artemis. And he hadn't been able to talk her out of it, so there had been no choice but to wholeheartedly support her; to accept food and condolences from friends, to hold her crying mother, to look convincingly sad through consoling conversations with his own family. To carefully package all her clothing in boxes and store them away while people spoke behind his back about his refusal to give them away and move on.

And now Dick had called him and dragged him, yet again, into the Team's mess. He kept telling Dick that they were out, that he couldn't rely on their help, and they kept being called up for 'emergencies', and they kept saying yes. Just this once. Because it's an emergency.

She was going to be there.

Dick would've specified otherwise. He would've assured Wally that the bioship was Artemis-free as well as Wally-free if that was true. But he hadn't mentioned her, so she must be there. Wally didn't know if he could handle that. But he had no choice. They already had one rogue time traveller; adding themselves from the past was a recipe for disaster.

He was very happy that his own younger self wouldn't be present. He definitely wouldn't be able to handle that.

He suited up (he should just donate the suits to a museum or something), stuffed some food into his mouth, and headed for the ruins of Mount Justice.

* * *

-Have you thought of a way around this memory-erasing thing yet?- M'Gann asked Nightwing as she stood in the corridor with Wolf, keeping watch.

-Are we still going over this?- Nightwing was slowly crossing the room where the time travellers had been found, staring at his wrist-mounted computer. He didn't look up.

-We're going to keep going over this, because I'm not digging through anybody's mind.-

-It's for their own good, M'Gann. _Our_ own good, I mean.-

M'Gann felt her fingers curling into Wolf's fur. Why did Nightwing always have to be so sure that everyone would just do what he said? Well... because they always did, she supposed, because he was the leader and that was his job. But why did he always have to be so sure he was right? After Artemis and... Kaldur... -If you're so sure I'm going to erase their memories, why is it so important that they don't learn anything about this era? I mean, they can only have run off because they jumped to some wrong conclusion because they didn't have enough information, right?-

-Keeping information from them is just a precaution.-

-Well if you insist on erasing their memories then it;s an unnec...- Unless... -You don't want him to know who you've become. You don't want to see him realise – -

"I didn't see you in too much of a hurry to share anything with her," Nightwing snapped back. "You didn't stay here just to keep an eye on me. You're avoiding her. This isn't all my – "

"It is all your fault!" M'Gann was aware, in a detached sort of way, that she was screaming through tears. "You said! You said it was okay to use my powers on the bad guys! All I did was believe you! You said he'd gone bad, you said he'd killed Artemis! But apparently trusting my leader makes me a gullible fool and now – " Nightwing's arms were around her; she sobbed into his shoulder.

"I know. I know. This isn't your fault. I shouldn't have implied that it was."

But it was, really, no matter how much she wanted to blame Nightwing. It's not as if she hadn't been warned. Conner had been warning her from the start. And she'd ignored him. She'd tried to mess with his mind on an impulse, a minor coercion that would've been easily forgiven on Mars, and while she'd agreed that that specific instance still wasn't okay on Earth, she'd kept ignoring his other warnings. She'd thought she was doing the right thing, but didn't bad guys all think that?

M'Gann knew that she couldn't erase their past selves' memories. She couldn't use her powers on anyone. She couldn't be trusted to.

* * *

"Uh, guys?" Robin called from the hold of the bioship, "I... don't think this is our bioship."

"What makes you say that?" Aqualad asked.

"The cargo. Did one of you stock it with about a hundred and fifty rebreathers and a large box of crab cakes?"

"Who needs that many rebreathers?" Artemis asked. "Although I did lose mine in Antarctica, can you throw us one?"

Robin complied. "My guess would be some kind of passive aggressive gesture? The point is that unless one of us put this stuff in here, it belongs to the people we left in Antarctica, meaning..."

"Hello, Megan! Of course we're in the future!" The bioship had missed her. If it was her bioship, from her time, they'd barely been separated an hour, and there was no reason for it to miss her.

"It does not matter," Aqualad said, ignoring the uncertain looks Robin was shooting at him. "They were clearly keeping something from us. We forge ahead."

Something yellow streaked across the waves below, too fast for the eye to track, and began circling beneath them. Artemis leaned close to the window. "Don't tell me that's – "

A giant funnel of water began to rise around the bioship. They rose and ploughed through the side; it followed.

"Miss Martian, can you evade?" Aqualad asked.

"Yeah, but nor forever. He's faster than we are."

"Then try to get us toward land."

"Let me off," Artemis said, "I'll distract him."

"You want us to drop you into the ocean?" Aqualad responded. "If anybody is going into the water – "

"He'll ignore you. Do you really think he'd let me drown?"

"I do not like it," Aqualad said hesitantly, "but if that is what you want..."

Miss Martian opened a hole before he finished talking, and Artemis dropped. Sure enough, the funnel of water dropped and they used their few seconds of delay to speed towards Mount Justice.

"It's wrong," Superboy said, leaning forward and squinting. "Something about the skyline." When they got close enough for everyone else to start making out Happy Harbour, he gasped.

"What?" Robin asked. "What is it?"

"You'll see."

When they got closer, they did.

The cockpit was silent. Mount Justice, their headquarters... for half of them, their home... didn't exist. It was in ruins. The power needed to create that explosion...

All of them suddenly realised that moving on to the Justice League wasn't the only explanation for why the team they'd left in Antarctica didn't have a Kaldur, Artemis or Wally.

"We're stopping this from ever happening," Robin said.

Kaldur nodded once. "Agreed. This will not be our future."


	4. Chapter 4

Artemis' automatic reaction to freefall was to dock an arrow and shoot herself a safety line. She had to resist the urge to do that as she plunged toward the water, new rebreather at the ready. _Water. It's always water._

She fell, neatly, into a pair of arms. The catch took less than a second, but now Kid Flash would have to start the water funnel up all over again. That bought the Team several seconds at least. Sure enough, he sped right after the bioship and began circling again. "That wasn't fair," he said, sounding a little choked-up. Artemis knew they were hitting below the belt, but she didn't see how their ploy could upset him that much.

"Neither is this," she added, twisting in his arms and tripping him with her bow, causing them both to topple forward into the water. They struggled for a few seconds to pull their heads above the waves.

"What was _that_?" Kid Flash snapped once they were both afloat.

"My KF could've dodged that."

"Well this KF wasn't expecting to be randomly attacked by the girl he just caught."

"That seems to be a running theme with you future guys." Artemis spat out some salt and glanced at Kid Flash, then found she couldn't look away. Kid Flash was... not so much kid any more. Wow. Five years was a _lot_ of growing. How much had both of them changed in that time? What had put that grim, tired look in his eyes? And were they still...?

He watched her too, a long, somewhat blank stare. After awhile he looked away, after the bioship. Could she distract him until it got to Happy Harbour? She had to try.

"So, future, huh? Still in neon yellow, I see. No time to upgrade in the costume department?"

"Are you okay? Did you get hurt?"

"What, from a fall and a tumble into water? You know me and water."

Was that a wince? He wasn't looking at her at all any more. He pulled his goggles down and looked out after the bioship once more. Scanning? Or just hiding his eyes? "I have a job to do." He put his arm out without looking at her. "You coming, or do you prefer a nice relaxing swim?"

She took his arm and let him pick her up. He built up enough momentum to move on top of the water again, and they made for Happy Harbour.

Too late. She'd bought the Team enough time.

* * *

Conner, La'gaan and Tim were too late.

The Team had already made it to Happy Harbour. The SuperCycle easily found the bioship, but she was empty. The fervent hope that Tim had been harbouring, that the Team would see the ruins of their old base and then just turn around and go back to Antarctica, vanished. They weren't in the ruins. They must've gone to ground in Happy Harbour.

"Robin, you and I need to get civvies from the bioship and scan the town," Conner said, sounding resigned. "La'gaan, you're on coastal duty in case they try to leave the island that way." With the loss of Mount Justice, there were no zeta platforms in Happy Harbour any more.

Why did they land in Happy Harbour though, after they saw Mount Justice in ruins? They may simply have had no choice, if Kid Flash had caught up with them. Robin changed, made sure his eyes were hidden behind his sunglasses, and strode out into Happy Harbour.

It didn't take him long to spot Dick, blending into the crowd in civvies. No... the walk was wrong. Had to be Miss Martian, posing as Dick. He couldn't safely take her on alone. Unless it was Dick posing as Miss Martian posing as Dick. That guy and his head games.

Well, it didn't matter, because they were in a crowd, so it's not like anybody was going to start a physical fight. Tim shadowed his target as he wove through the crowd from what should be a safe distance. He'd never be able to shadow Nightwing like that; the boys had been trying to secretly follow and sneak up on each other since he'd become Robin and both had become extremely good at picking up the other's presence. But this five-year-past version hadn't done any of that, except maybe with Batman. And that gave Tim the advantage.

Somehow, Dick melted away into the crowd.

Okay, maybe less advantage than he'd thought. Had Dick _always_ been a troll? Tim had assumed he'd picked that habit up as an ongoing training exercise. There! On the rooftop! Freaking acrobats. Tim may not have grown up in a circus but he'd learned enough under Nightwing; he found a suitable wall with enough protrusions and made his own way to the roof. Dick would've done it faster, and more artistically, because he'd learned to do things showy. Years of being Batman and Nightwing had trained a lot of that out of him, but there would always be traces of it, and Tim usually used those traces to his advantage, calculating which beams and rooftops would appeal to an acrobat to track him. Until Nightwing figured out what he was doing and used those exact assumptions to lay traps and ambushes. It was an ongoing mental arms race.

Tim heard the chuckle. Classic example there. Showy, gave him at least 2 seconds' warning. He used it to slip a gas mask on and press his closed eyes into the crook of his elbow before the roof was covered in flashing light (carefully directed so as to be almost unnoticeable below) and smoke. He pulled infra-red goggles over his eyes, although he knew Dick was already gone.

Tim took a deep, calming breath before activating his communicator. He still had trouble bringing himself to talk to any of the Team except the other Bats, especially the original members. Superboy and Miss Martian were idols. Superstars. He wasn't sure how he managed to get more than two words out without babbling like a crazy fan and begging for an autograph. In fact, he hardly ever managed to get more than two words out at all. But it was easier over the communicator.

"Robin to Superboy and Lagoon Boy. I'm tailing past-Robin on the rooftops. There's a chance he'll disappear into the crowd again and I don't want to cause a scene. Please advise."

"Catch him if you can do it discreetly," Superboy responded, "but not attracting attention is top priority. We do not want our enemies learning of this, not until we've resolved it anyway. Superboy out."

Try to force a confrontation on the rooftops. Got it.

Easy enough. This Robin was a lot showier than Nightwing was. A lot happier, too, which was a little chilling. Was the strain in Nightwing's eyes just something that the hero life did to them? Even Batgirl had become noticeably more serious in the short time that Tim had known her. Did the hero life just... wear people down?

Focus on the task at hand. Force a rooftop confrontation.

He could do that. Dick wasn't the only one who could do showy.

Tim walked slowly out of the smoke, drawing his staff in the most cool-looking motion he could manage. He carefully scanned the rooftops ahead. He resisted the urge to look behind himself, although he couldn't tell if he was imagining the gentle footfalls or not.

That creepy, repetitive chuckle surrounded him once again, and he carefully timed the moment he'd need to squeeze his eyes shut.

The flash came half a second early, blinding him. Dammit. He'd been expecting Dick to predict he'd close his eyes immediately and to attack during that time. He hadn't expected him to change the flash timing in case that didn't work out. But he didn't need sight to know where Dick was; he could hear the soft tap of his foot striking the roof as he launched into a kick. Tim quickly stepped aside and swung his staff. A miss.

"Since when does Robin fight with a staff?" Dick's disconcertingly young voice asked as he went in for another attack. Tim had no way of blocking the punch he couldn't see. "And why is your costume cooler than mine?"

Tim swung and caught Dick's foot with his staff, but he knew that Dick would have no trouble regaining his footing. Dick made to trip him; he similarly recovered with no problem. The lack of sight was a serious obstacle, but if he could get him wrestling... he tried to move closer, but Dick was having none of that. He stepped back. "And why don't you ever _say anything_?" A kick from behind. "Robin talks! It comes with the gig! You're ruining my public image."

Well, Tim had learned one secret about Dick's dark past – he was an annoying brat. Tim froze, trying to hear where Dick was. He knew he was inviting attack, but Dick seemed reluctant to use ranged weapons. Didn't want any stray projectiles alerting the townspeople? Didn't want to risk hurting Tim? It didn't matter why.

Tim felt a foot against his ankle, a hand on his neck, and in that second, he knew he'd lucked out.

He knew that move.

A twist. A dodge. The butt of a staff between the ankles. Tim slid out of Dick's grip and knocked him down, leaving him flat on the roof with Tim's knees on his back. Tim's vision started to clear. He didn't bother trying to restrain Dick with cuffs; instead, he pressed Dick's palms together and wrapped his hands in duct tape to immobilise them. Sweet, flexible, unpickable duct tape.

"Let me guess," Dick grunted as Tim moved on to taping his ankles. "I taught you that move?"

"Yeah."

* * *

La'gaan knew that patrolling the water was waste of time. Superboy probably just wanted him out of the way. If Kaldur was going to leave by water, he was long gone. And the beach was a little too big to patrol effectively.

But he hadn't counted on raw curiosity.

When La'gaan got to the water around the ruins of Mount Justice, Kaldur was still there, inspecting the debris. He didn't seem to have noticed La'gaan. La'gaan fought hard to clamp down on his rage, fought the urge to take the traitor by surprise and clobber him into the rock before he had a chance to react. No future knowledge. No tipping him off to his own betrayal. La'gaan could see the sense in that – that sort of information might make him betray them even faster. So instead he clamped down on his feelings, got ready to inflate at a moments' notice, and said, "Kaldur."

"La'gaan." He didn't look away from the debris. "How are you?"

"I have to take you back to Antarctica, you know."

"And you are prepared to fight me?"

"You have no idea."

"Then I surrender." He tipped his palms up in a half-serious gesture of capitulation.

"... what?"

"Well, aside from having no interest in hurting a friend, it would be foolish for me to get into a fight with a sorcerer considerably more powerful than myself for no good reason." Only then did he turn to smile at La'gaan. "I noticed that your tattoos are invisible. I'm impressed. Working on this Team has not allowed me to advance my abilities as I should. But you, I see, made sure you had proper training, and are all the stronger for it. And now you too have come to the surface world, like you wanted. I am glad."

"You were my inspiration," La'gaan managed to say around the lump in his throat. "You and Tula and Garth."

"They are on the Team too?" Kaldur's smile brightened. "Nightwing was not kidding about there being no quota on Atlanteans." He looked back to the ruins, his smile fading. "Mount Justice was... I cannot believe that it can be gone."

_If only you knew. _"It took everyone by surprise. I didn't believe it myself, until I saw the ruins."

"You weren't here at the time? I am happy to hear that."

"Actually I was an enemy captive at the time."

"This was a recent explosion."

"Fairly recent."

"So are you okay?"

"Huh?"

"You must have escaped fairly recently. Are you okay?" Kaldur's look of concern was identical to the look he used to give La'gaan when he hurt himself during combat sorcery training.

"... Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

"I am not with your Team. Did I die here?"

"You know I can't answer that." La'gaan swam closer, but didn't make the mistake of getting within arms' reach. "Come back to the bioship."

Kaldur shook his head. "Not without information."

"It's dangerous to – "

"Not information from here. Information from you. One question. I want you to promise me that you will answer it honestly, as yourself, with no regard to your orders. Or of you can't, you'll tell me so. Promise?"

"I can't – "

"Please, La'gaan."

La'gaan looked into the open, honest eyes of his friend and hero. The first protege of Aquaman, the first leader of the Team, the one who had introduced him to M'Gann. Who had helped him with his spells when he was younger. Who had never betrayed him, or his King. Yet. "I promise."

"Do you think I should go back to Antarctica right now?"

La'gaan paused. Nightwing... Nightwing had been adamant that the timeline not be changed. But maybe, forewarned with future knowledge, there was a way to save Tula and Artemis' lives. And keep Kaldur from betraying them. If this younger, good Kaldur knew what had happened and why...

But it was the same Kaldur, and just because La'gaan wanted his previous illusions about Kaldur's sense of good and justice to be right didn't mean that they were. He'd seen who he really was. He'd watched him turn after learning who his father was. If he had that information now... would he simply turn earlier? Would Tula and Gar, and then La'gaan himself, be brought in too early? Would Nightwing have to take up leadership of the Team before he was ready? How many lives had been saved by those precious few years of experience they'd all gained while Kaldur was still playing the good guy? To gamble that many lives on a wish that the good guy act was real and permanent, just because he missed Kaldur as an ally and role model...

_I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I can't risk trusting you. It was your decisions that led to this. Not mine. But I'm sorry._

"Yes," he said. "I think you should stop looking for answers here, and come back to Antarctica."

"Then I will come with you."

La'gaan frowned. Kaldur was definitely under the impression that he'd recently died, and he... wanted to go back? To let that happen? "Are you sure?"

"If you are sure then I am sure. I trust you."

"You... do understand...?"

"I am not afraid to die in service to the Team or to Atlantis. It would not be the first time I have sacrificed my own life. There was this one training exercise... My point is, if you want this to happen, then whatever I died for must have been worth it."

"You don't even know what happened."

"I do not need to. I trust your judgement, my friend."

* * *

M'Gann and Conner weren't hard to find. They stuck together.

Superboy answered a quick enquiry from Robin and watched his younger self from a distance and pondered what to do. He wasn't worried about being detected; he was, after all, standing in a crowd, and people were walking and talking all around him. Super-hearing shouldn't help.

But telepathy did. Superboy felt M'Gann's mind curl around his, and froze. It had been so long since she'd touched his mind with anything more than a mission-vital communication link that he'd actually not considered that she could sense him that way. He still wasn't sure whether she felt truly guilty or whether she just didn't want to anger him further, but he'd been grateful for the space.

M'Gann touched his mind, snaked through his surface thoughts. He could have resisted, could have begged her to stop. He didn't.

He hadn't realised just how much he'd missed her touch. Even he didn't really understand his own longing for it. He'd been born into telepathy, and it hadn't been until he'd been freed from Cadmus that he'd understood what a violation it had been, that his mind and thoughts were his own and nobody else had an inherent right to them. He'd gritted his teeth and tolerated M'Gann's mindlink for the sake of missions, resisting the urge to automatically flinch away from any mental touch, because he couldn't let the Team down. He couldn't be difficult. They'd all said it was okay, and they knew a lot more about right and wrong than he did. Everything he knew about the world had been forced into his head by Cadmus. So he'd told himself not to be so sensitive, so weak, and had endured quietly until he could feel the brush of others against his mind without flinching.

Circumstances had contributed a lot to his comfort with the whole thing. Having his memories replaced by M'Gann in Bialya, where he was in no state to resist and she didn't have the option to refuse, was the first time he'd experienced a true melding of minds, and real communication. It was only then that he understood how she felt, trying to communicate complex ideas through clumsy verbal language. Humans didn't know what real communication was. Over time, M'Gann had shown him that connecting with somebody didn't have to be about power and control and violence. It could be about sharing, and joy. And it had taken Psymon's brutal violation to make that lesson possible... the irony wasn't lost on him.

So when M'Gann had started using her powers like Cadmus or Psymon, he knew that there was no point approaching Nightwing about it. He might help, he might even be able to stop her, but he wouldn't stop the problem. Nightwing wouldn't understand, not really. Conner could only approach her himself. And when she tried to control him, when she demonstrated that the whole thing had been some kind of temporary, lucky reprieve because she was as ready as their enemies to use it as a weapon of power and control, even on him... after everything... when she showed him that just maybe, all telepaths really were the same...

He'd lost her touch. Forever. He might trust her in battle as a teammate, he might hold out hope that she would one day see that what she was doing was wrong, but some kinds of trust can't be won back. He'd gone back to flinching under the mindlink. He didn't think he'd ever stop, not this time.

But the younger M'Gann... a younger, more innocent touch, with no hint of violence, no history of misuse since he'd been born. He flinched, but he couldn't let it go. Even through the anxiety, he wanted that touch to last forever.

She started digging too deep, into information she couldn't know yet. Information that could change the future.

-M'Gann,- he said, -stop.-

She did.

Superboy knew that she must be having a telepathic conversation with his younger self, because his younger self suddenly turned and skimmed the crowd, eyes very quickly settling on Superboy. She put a calming hand on his shoulder. After a few more seconds, he shrugged, and Superboy felt the mindlink open in his own mind.

-So I guess you're just going to follow us around for the next few hours and wait for all these people to go home?- his younger self asked.

-If I have to. I'd prefer if we could skip the part where we hit each other, though. Maybe go now and save ourselves some time?-

-I don't think so.-

-What's even the plan here? To just wander around for a few hours and delay the inevitable? There's nothing here for you.-

-Then leave us in peace.-

-Wait a minute... is M'Gann reading people's minds to get information on Mount Justice? She is, isn't she?- There was no response. -Learning too much about your own future is dangerous! Stop it!-

His younger self ignored him. -How's it going, M'Gann?- he asked.

-Ugh. Nobody seems to know anything. I have a date for the explosion and there were some heroes hanging around the rubble for a week or so afterwards, but I'm not getting anything useful.-

-And you won't,- Superboy insisted. -Just come back with me. Please.- His communicator crackled to life. Robin and Kaldur were both en route to the bioship. Artemis still hadn't been found.

Then, Nightwing's voice. "Nightwing to alpha squad. You need to get the past Team back here was quickly as possible. There's a fluctuating field here that might act as a portal back to their time, but at its current rate of growth, we have about three hours before its usable. Impulse thinks it will probably collapse in on itself after that so we have one shot at this."

Three hours! That was barely enough time to get back! He needed to hurry... force a confrontation now, or trick them, or... he was overthinking the whole thing.

He told them what Nightwing had said.

-Then we'll have to find another way back,- M'Gann said firmly.

-I don't think there is another way back,- Superboy insisted. -This might be our only shot.-

-M'Gann...- Superboy's past self laid a hand on her shoulder. -What's wrong?-

-Nothing's _wrong_, I just think – -

-Future you creeps you out, doesn't she?- Past!Superboy shot an apologetic look at his counterpart. He held his past self's gaze, and a silent agreement passed between them – to get M'Gann home, to protect her, no matter what.

-It's not that. It's just... it isn't important.- She looked away.

-This is great and all, but can we do it in the bioship?- Superboy asked. -We still need to find Artemis.-

* * *

It occurred to Wally that his choice of interception point hadn't been very well thought out, because the closest place to take Artemis was Happy Harbour. He left her on the beach for half a second while he went to find civilian clothes for her.

"You should let your hair down too," he insisted as he pressed them into her hands. The absolute last thing they needed was for there to be even any hint of a rumour that Artemis Crock was alive and hanging around Happy Harbour. The chances of that happening were miniscule, but they weren't zero, and when it came to endangering Artemis, that meant they were too high.

She shrugged and got changed, stashing her costume and bow in a little shoulder bag. Her impossibly long hair fell in tendrils over her face and down her body; in an easy movement, she brushed it all behind her shoulders. Oh god, he'd missed that. It was amazing how much he missed the little things. Artemis never wore her hair down out of the house; he didn't think he even had any photos of her hair down. That movement was something she did curled up on the couch watching a movie with him, or coming to bed, or just after she'd blow-dried it.

She was so _young_. That smile, the same smile, on a 5-years-younger face. Those eyes, so certain of the details around them with barely a glance, and able to look right through him. "So now what?" she asked. "You gonna try to keep me out of trouble until your friends show up to take us all back to Antarctica?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"Coffee, then? We should definitely get some coffee. Is that little place on Carter Street still open?"

Wally fell into step behind her and they made their way to Carter Street. Wally ordered their drinks. Her preferred coffee was something he'd never forget, although the Artemis with him didn't know that yet, and merely shot him an indecipherable cocked eyebrow. They sat in a little corner out of the way, she nursing her chai latte, he fitfully stirring a straw through his iced coffee.

"So," she said in a carefully neutral voice, "am I dead?"

"What?!" Wally dropped the straw onto the table, splattering little flecks of milk everywhere.

"Come on, Wally. We haven't been going out long – from my perspective I mean – but I know you. And you're an uncomfortable, nervous wreck. Not the 'hey I dated this girl for a couple of weeks and it didn't work out and now it's awkward' kind. The 'something is seriously screwed up here' kind. You look at me like you haven't seen me for ages and you're terrified I'll break or disappear. So either something really, really terrible happened between us, or I'm dead."

"It's not... it's not like that."

"Isn't it? Did I kill your puppy or something then?"

"No! Nothing happened."

"Nothing, huh? You're rusty, Wally. You're out of practice. We both know it. And you don't like me being here. Something big went down, didn't it?"

"I do like you being here."

"Hmm." She smiled to herself. "I think it's only fair to warn you, I have absolutely no intention of dying young if I can help it. I'm not going back without a way to fix this."

"You're not dead!" Wally hissed. "It's..." he sighed. "look, I can't tell you anything."

"What, you don't trust me not to screw up time?"

"It's not you. It's everyone else. If they know, it puts you in danger. I'll tell you what's going on but you have to swear to keep it a secret."

Artemis held his gaze expressionlessly for a long time. Finally, she said, "I promise."

Wally told her.

He started with Kaldur's 'betrayal' and went through their retirement, Nigtwing's proposal and her 'death', all the way up to what he'd learned from Dick about the destruction of Mount Justice. She listened, mostly silently, interjecting with a question here or there.

"That sounds... dangerous," she said finally.

"It is. You can see why I'm worried."

"Yeah, but Robin... Nightwing... knows what he's doing, right? I'm not sure the secrecy is a good idea though. Secrets have nearly torn out team apart before." She stared hard at the half-drank latte in front of her.

"The thing with the quid piece wasn't your fault, you know. Our enemies would've found a way to get it regardless. But you see why you can't tell them."

"I know. But you should. Or Nightwing should."

"Are you kidding? He didn't even want me to know. He only brought me in because you refused to help otherwise."

"... And my family?"

Wally swallowed. "Let's just focus on getting you home."

"I see."

* * *

M'Gann found Artemis easily with a simple mental scan and she, Artemis and Conner lead Kid Flash and the future Superboy to the bioship. They arrived on the bioship just as Kaldur finished cutting the duct tape off Robin's wrists. Artemis and Conner immediately burst out laughing.

"It is so not funny," Robin said, rubbing his hands.

"New Robin kicked your butt," Artemis said. "That's pretty funny."

Everyone stood around awkwardly for a few minutes while they tried to figure out who was actually in charge, before Superboy – the older one – cleared his throat. "Miss Martian, could you get us out of here?"

She nodded, and they began the long, largely silent trip back. The older team moved into the hold while their younger counterparts remained in the cockpit. In the hold, Wally and the others exchanged half-smiles, waves and nods and pretended not to notice that they were being left out of what was probably a very fervent psychic conversation.

"I'm sorry about Artemis," La'gaan eventually said quietly. "I didn't get to know her as well as I wish I could've, but..."

"Yeah. I know." Wally looked away.

A lifetime later, the younger Artemis came into the hold to inform them that they were about to land. The team trooped out into the cockpit. Conner waited until the others had left, then took Artemis' elbow. "Promise me something, okay?"

"Uh, what?"

"Cape Canaveral. March... March 2016, I mean. Don't go, okay? Don't ask me why, just... promise you won't go."

"Conner, you know I can't change – "

"Screw history! Just stay away from Cape Canaveral."

"Conner..." Artemis took his hands. "I don't... think I would've told you this, in the future, so let me say it now. The decisions I make are to help people. So even when they turn out to be bad decisions, I don't regret them. Nothing will make me regret joining this team, and although I haven't done it yet, I'm sure nothing will make me regret future decisions either. Even bad decisions can be_ right_ decisions. Okay?" She ducked around him, not waiting for a response.

They filed out of the bioship and into the ice tunnel, the older Conner keeping Nightwing updated, and paused at the edge of the flood. "I'll take front, you take back," Kaldur said to La'gaan, walking forward into the icy water. One by one, the others grew gills or fitted rebreathers and followed. When Artemis and La'gaan were alone, he cleared his throat. "Archer."

"Hmm?"

"I know you don't know me yet, but... look, in about five years, there'll be a satellite launch at Cape Canaveral. Stay away, okay?"

She frowned. "You know, you guys are really bad at this whole 'don't reveal the future' thing."

"We guys? Who else has spoken to you?"

"It doesn't matter. Thanks for the warning." She turned back to the water.

"Ar... Artemis..."

"Yes?"

"Thanks."

She frowned again. "For what?"

"For being you. For showing... people... that we determine who we are by making our own decisions. Strong, brave heroes don't just protect people, they inspire them too, so... thanks." He paused awkwardly.

Artemis looked taken aback for a moment, then smiled. "I know you can't tell me anything about yourself now, but I look forward to meeting you." She dove into the water.

Nightwing and the older M'Gann were waiting in the corridor next to the time travel room. It quickly became apparent why they weren't inside the room – something was... wrong... with the air. It sparked and wavered. Nightwing was monitoring something on his wrist computer. He glanced up as if to confirm everybody was present before announcing, "Good timing. Our window opens in about three minutes, and then we have maybe five before it collapses."

"Are we... sure it's safe?" Conner asked.

"Yes."

"But none of us understand the physics involved – "

"We're here, so it works."

"I'm pretty sure time travel doesn't work like that," Wally said. "I mean I've been watching Impulse and – "

"Well he's from the future, not – "

"I don't see how that – "

"Look, we don't have any other options."

* * *

M'Gann watched her older self with eyes and mind. She was still closed-off, isolated, except for a mind-link with Nightwing, the superficial kind they used for field communication. It would be impolite to try to hack into the link, but even from the outside she could feel the contention in it – they were arguing. She waited for them to stop before opening her own private link with her. -I don't get it,- she said. -What made us like this? What made you so shut-up? So human?-

-It's a temporary security precaution,- she replied.

-I understand that there are things you can't tell me, but if you think I can't tell when my own self is lying to me – -

-I really wish you could.-

-What's that supposed to mean?-

-Nothing. It's just... our powers are dangerous. Never, ever forget that.-

The air in the room crackled and opened up, creating some kind of dark void that was dizzying to look at. "About thirty seconds," Nightwing reported.

"Until a strange portal you don't understand using physics none of us understand might open up, according to you and a kid who has made it clear he's not a chronal expert?"

"Yes, until that happens." He turned off the display on his wrist computer and, with one stern, serious glance at his team's M'Gann, looked at Kaldur's team. "Guys. I'm sorry about this. But..."

Kaldur and his Robin exchanged a glance and a tiny shrug. Of course they'd already figured it out.

"But you're gonna wipe our minds. We get it," Robin said. "Gotta preserve the timeline. Future knowledge is dangerous and all that." He looked to the older M'Gann and made an inviting gesture in the direction of his own head. "Go."

"But what we've learned here could be useful," the younger M'Gann protested. "Help us not to make mistakes."

"No." Kaldur looked from La'gaan to Nightwing as he spoke. "Our friends are in a better position to make this decision than we are. I trust their judgement."

"You're the boss," Artemis shrugged with a smile.

"No. I may be in command, but I will not try to order anybody to consent to this. However, if you are nervous or mistrustful..." ignoring the younger M'Gann's protesting splutter at that, he stepped forward... "Then I will go first."

"We have the gate," Nightwing said. "Better hurry this up."

Kaldur smiled at the older M'Gann and gave a small nod. "Then let us proceed."

M'Gann met the open, trusting eyes of Kaldur. A younger Kaldur, a pristine mind that she hadn't... _Just go in, take what you need, get out. You've done it before. He won't resist, he wants this... this needs to happen...this is for the good of the Team, of everyone..._

"I... I can't..."

After several motionless seconds, her younger self took the lead, reaching into his mind and pulling out everything post-explosion. It was fairly easy with new memories, formed since the last time somebody slept; except for a brief search for the explosion, she didn't even need to read them. The older M'Gann quickly knocked him out and levitated him through the portal. By then, her younger self had moved onto Robin; one by one, she neatly sliced the memories from her teammates while the older M'Gann carefully knocked them out and sent them home.

"It's getting unstable," Nightwing reported as the last of them, Artemis, was levitated through. The younger M'Gann floated towards the portal herself, only to be caught in a tight mental grip. Her own mental grip.

-You too, I'm afraid,- her older self said.

-I don't think so.-

-Please don't resist this. It'll be so much easier to do this without hurting you if you don't resist.-

-You couldn't even bring yourself to touch their memories! What makes you think you can bring yourself to take your own?-

-Are you kidding? My own memories are about the only ones I could trust myself to take. The only ones I have the right to.-

"Better hurry this up, guys," Nightwing warned.

No time for clumsy superficial mindlinks. They needed thought-speed communication. No choice. The older M'Gann gritted her teeth and, for the first time since her uncle had left Earth, opened herself up to a Martian mind.

Ah! She'd almost forgotten what true communication felt like. Complicated notions could be outlined faster than it took to pronounce a single word, precise feelings and concepts could be transmitted accurately... her younger self watched her shock and relief with apprehension.

"How could this happen?" she wondered. "I couldn't stand being that isolated, there's no way I could become..."

"Become what, responsible? Your powers are _dangerous_. The sooner you stop ignoring that, the better."

"Untrained they are, but used to help people – "

"And how do you know how to help people? There's a line. This isn't Mars. Most people here are practically defenseless. It's not safe to make more contact than necessary. But it is, apparently, necessary to make you forget all of this, so if you'll excuse me – "

"No!" The younger M'Gann rebuffed her attempt to pull up her memories. She didn't push, afraid of hurting her. "No. I'm going to stop this from happening. I'm going to stop whatever destroyed our home. And whatever made me like this."

"You can't beat me. I have a lot more experience than you do."

"I don't need to beat you. I just need to hold you off. You're not going to do anything that might hurt your younger self permanently, and you're not going to let me miss that portal. How can you be

okay with this? How can you look at Mount Justice now and think it's not worth trying to save it?"

"The _mountain_? That's your concern here?"

"My concern is whatever was strong enough to make a mountain _disappear_!"

"The mountain isn't the problem! Forget the mountain! The problem is _you_."

"Oh, right, something's wrong with _me_; I can't wait to be more like _you_, that'll make everything better."

"You want to know what happened? Fine. I'll show you." She pulled the relevant memories to the surface of her mind, watching her younger self's eyes slowly widen as the whole story played back.

"No. No... I'd never..."

"Wrong. You would because you did. In tiny steps, you told yourself you were good. You were helping. It was okay because they were bad guys, and when they were good guys they were misguided and just needed to be set straight, and you were helping, because you were a hero."

"But I'm not like that! I'm... I'm not..."

"White?" M'Gann changed the mental projection of herself to resemble her natural form. Her younger self instinctively stepped back. "Why, because you can hide your body? When will you get it into your head that nobody cares what you look like here? Policing your body won't change your temperament. It's your decisions that are the problem."

"I haven't made those decisions yet. And I won't."

"You haven't? So it was somebody else who brainblasted their own team in Qurac and put Psymon in a coma to protect a secret nobody even cared about in the end?"

"That's different! I didn't hurt them, I was protecting them. And Psymon was – "

"One of the bad guys?"

"Yes!"

M'Gann sighed mentally. Her younger self crossed her arms. "There's nothing you can say that will convince me that – "

"I know. We didn't listen to Conner. Why would we listen to ourself? It seems the only way for you to learn anything is by making mistakes that hurt people."

"And now I can go back and avoid those mistakes."

"No you can't. You can't because I showed you everything and you still don't see the problem. You can avoid attacking Aqualad, sure. But you'll hurt somebody else. Maybe kill somebody else. Aqualad's strong... he can probably recover. But with this knowledge, with you changing the timeline... I can't be sure of the same from whoever ends up being your victim."

"Why is it that _you're_ the one who left a good friend braindead and _I'm_ the bad guy? No way am I letting you in my brain. I don't trust you."

"You're going to have to learn to." And then learn to again and again, every time you screw up. Which will be a lot.

"Why should I? You've done these horrible things. How do I know you're not going to just keep hurting people?"

"Because it's going to get better. Because I have friends to keep me on the right path... friends I should listen to more often, even if I don't like what they're saying. Because I have a history of mistakes to teach me, mistakes that you can't learn from properly without making. Because I'm going to make you a promise. Look at me, I want you to see my sincerity here. I swear on our life, Aqualad will heal. He'll heal if I have to break into Black Manta's headquarters myself. I swear that I will fix this."

Her younger self stared for a long moment and then, finally, began to relax her mental shield. "I don't want to forget. I want to remember..."

"You will remember. In five years. But for now..."

* * *

It was dark.

Muscles aching, Robin reached for a new glowstick and broke it. The blue light stung, even through his eyelids. Most of his joints hurt, his head wouldn't stop throbbing, and there was a dull sting on the inside of his right wrist. He didn't try to force himself to stand or open his eyes right away; instead he listened, identifying all four of his teammates by sound. Good.

"Is everyone alright?" Aqualad asked. He waited for everybody to respond before continuing, "then I think there is nothing more that we can do here. We should return to Kid Flash and retreat."

Robin slowly opened his eyes. Lots of shrapnel. Cracked ice, that might be dangerous. They were all piled at the entrance, where they'd been shielded by Aqualad's water-bearers. There was no piece of the machine left big enough to be worth analysing, but he scrambled for a random computer chip. "I just want to check this out, see if we can figure out what we're dealing with."

"Don't be long," Aqualad said as he led the others out.

When he was alone, Robin turned his attention to his stinging forearm. The glove covering the pain was intact, no shrapnel had pierced it. He slowly peeled the glove back, already knowing what to expect. Three pinpricks in a line, each the exact length of his thumbnail apart. They weren't driven deep enough to pierce anything important, but they were far too deep to be mistaken for random scratches. A code, a message from himself. Three in a line meant that if he didn't remember making the marks, his memory had been erased, but it was of his own volition and it was essential to the plan that he not try to restore it. Nobody else knew the code; it could only be there because he intended to send that message to himself. Unless somebody had read his mind. The protocol had made a lot more sense before he started dealing with telepaths on a regular basis.

Still, he had his mission; don't go looking for lost memories. The rest of the team probably had theirs erased, too; he might have to cover for missing arrows or unexplained injuries or suchlike. But he could do that. Avoid, cover, wait for the other shoe to drop.

He carefully pulled his sleeve up and then jogged after the others, leaving behind the scene of their unintended explosion. "You know," he wondered aloud when he'd caught up, "I don't think we're very good at covert. We're definitely vert."

"Do I want to ask?" Artemis asked.

"Well if they're being secretive and we're also being secretive it's covert, right, so if only their side is being secretive and ours isn't, doesn't that make us vert?"

"But you can still be covert if only one side is secretive."

"Huh. Then maybe we're unvert..."


End file.
